LATEST THINKING

Explore the results of Accenture’s global survey that examines taxpayers’ current perception of their digital experience and expectations for the future.

Overview

Digital is all over
the place,

changing the way we live and creating new
consumption behaviors and expectation from
citizens. It has opened new doors to private
organizations racing to get the most from
digital technologies to entice their customers.
Those customers are now expecting a similar
level of innovation and quality services from
their revenue agencies.

The Accenture Global
Taxpayers Survey 2014

examines the digital maturity of national
revenue agencies in nine countries
(Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, New
Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, the United
Kingdom and the United States) and
assesses the extent to which they are
fulfilling the digital demands of their
taxpayers and delivering public
service for the future. It reveals digital
security is no longer the primary concern of
citizens and that digital is their preferred
method of interaction with revenue agencies.

Background

CITIZENS want digital, anywhere,
anytime, on any device.

Whether they need it to access their online banking
services or to contact their public services organization,
this triple A has become part of their daily lives.

However, surprisingly, more than half of the
taxpayers surveyed were contacted by revenue
agencies only via non-digital channels. The level of
digital offering from many revenue agencies simply isn’t
broad or sophisticated enough to match taxpayer needs.

TAXPAYERS’ EXPECTATION

Taxpayers want much more than basic digital services such as interaction via email. They believe that today’s
revenue agencies have to offer online services and apps in the same way that banks do, and expressed
frustration with those failing to deliver this.

TAXPAYERS’ ENGAGEMENT

PERSONALIZED messages and a strong
online presence are key drivers to
elevate the customer relationship and
improve tax compliance.

Yet revenue agencies online services should not stop there. To
improve taxpayers’ engagement and voluntary compliance,
revenue agencies need to provide a new user centric
approach and a seamless communication experience. This
will avoid citizens having to go through a combination of online
channel and phone calls which seems to be the standard today in all
the countries surveyed.

MOVING forward, revenue agencies
should not be shy in embracing digital
solutions.

Taxpayers are keen on an improved experience and are open to a
variety of solutions as long as they remain simple and easy to use,
which is ranked by citizens as the top first priority, surprisingly, before
security matters.

Recommendations

Taxpayers around the world possess the appetite, readiness and trust required to become truly digital
customers of revenue agencies. In response, revenue agencies need to bridge the digital maturity gap with
their citizens to improve tax compliance and delivering public service for the future, by adopting the
following key steps:

Understand citizen preferences.

Taxpayers want digital services not only to contact their revenue agencies but also to be contacted through them instead of traditional modes of communication.

Seamless and simple service.

For taxpayers, the most important characteristic of digital services is simplicity.

Rethink taxpayer interaction
with a digital mindset.

Taxpayers want revenue agencies online to act as a central digital hub for both accessing information and contact.

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